To the editor,
Spoiled children, all their wishes always promptly fulfilled by their rich, indulgent parents, are now throwing a temper tantrum, because they have managed to think up a wish that was denied. You know who they are: That minority of truckers throwing the tantrum, and the three levels of government being the rich, indulgent parents, who provide us with universal health care, free education up to post-secondary education, freedom of religion, freedom of culture, a safe, peaceful country that used to be the envy of the world. The “BIG ISSUE”? The “kids” don’t want to be vaccinated.
Are our three levels of government perfect? Of course not. Who or what is perfect? However, looking at the world as a whole, I think we are doing quite well. In China, the government has locked up a Muslim minority in concentration camps, just like in Nazi Germany, raping the women, using the people as forced labour. The strong man in Belarus cheating at the election to stay in power, and then when the people raised their voices against him, calling on his friend, the murderous Putin of Russia, to quell the uprising, killing some of his opponents, to hang on to power.
In Russia those who oppose Putin are disappearing one by one. In Syria, president Bashar has murdered close to half a million of his own citizens, men, women, children, with the help of (again) Putin, just so he does not have to give in to the desire of his nation to bring in a few democratic changes. In Myanmar the government chased one million of the Rohinghas, a minority in the country, out of the country, burning down their villages, killing thousands. In Afghanistan, the murderous regime of the Taliban is already taking its toll, alongside the lack of food, causing starvation to a desperate nation. And the list goes on…
And here, in Canada? As mentioned before, we have universal health care, which not even our neighbor to the south has. We have religious freedom, freedom of speech, as long as it is not hate speech. We have a true democracy with little-or no irregularities in elections. We have (or had until the recent chaos) peace and tranquility in our country. Again, we were the envy of the world; and now we are the laughing stock of the world, thanks to the behaviour of the few in the convoys. Some of the protesters have compared our governments’s rules to those of Nazi Germany. In Nazi Germany the regime ordered the murder of millions: not just Jews, but also the Roma, the disabled, the LGBTQ and all those who opposed the regime. In our country, our governments issued mandates to save lives. Bit of a difference, wouldn’t you say?
The truckers in these convoys want the freedom not to get vaccinated against the COVID virus. Are they aware that alongside that freedom also comes the freedom to infect others? The freedom to perhaps sign the death sentence of those who cannot get into hospitals to receive life saving treatments, such as cancer patients, because those hospital beds are occupied by COVID patients? The freedom to tax the physical and mental health of the health care workers?
I guess not.
Sermin Heyck
Yellowknife